I've Done it All At 26 (From the Song, "High Flying, Adored")

Yesterday I went on a food delivery trip with the UN and Sri Lankan army. If you've never 4 wheeled up and down a 2 ton truck loaded with 280 boxes of food and stalled it in the middle of nowhere Haiti with a bunch of Sri Lankan officers who don't speak English, it's a good thing to do on your 26th birthday.

This experience was very interesting. We called the "community leader" before we went, and he said he had 280 families. We brought 280 boxes of food, each enough to feed 12 people for 1 week.

Little kids had chased our truck up and down the mountain in the hot sun hoping for some food. We slipped a few rice packets out to them and sent them on their way when no one was looking. You have to be careful with that though because you can start a riot, but is hard to watch a small child chase you all the way up a steep mountain in the hot sun hoping for food and not give him anything.

When we got to the top of our 4 wheel expedition, the community leader told us he had 350 families. As soon as I heard this, I started thinking, I do not want to see what happens after the 280th box. The crowd had tickets and we handed each family representative 1 box per ticket.

I was standing on the ground handing out the boxes with a few other sailors while the Sri Lankan army officers stood around us for protection. I got back into the truck when the crowd started getting angry. It was very, very sad to see the old woman standing there with a ticket in her hand and no box of food after it was all gone. I don't think I will ever forget the sad expression her face.

Another life experience to chalk up; now I really feel like I've done it all at 26.

Lost in Translation

Today I had a Haitian nurse working with me as an assistant. I was showing her how to clean wounds and treat other minor injuries. I had a little boy come in who had a bad rash on his bottom and in front. I cleaned his rash and put ointment on it and then covered it in non-stick band-aids and taped it up. The Haitian nurse had watched me, so I told her to do his front side while I went to get some antibiotics. When I returned, his legs had been poorly taped with tape that wasn’t sticking and she was in the process of wrapping up his penis! It was hard not to either yell at her or burst out laughing, but I corrected the situation while acting like it was intentional. Sometimes depending on where injuries are you have to do a little creative engineering, but sometimes you are just not going to be able to wrap up everything the same way.

The Work Slows Down

Recently several babies with medical cases are coming into the clinic. Today I gave several babies children’s Tylenol. Mothers are very thankful even when they just get Tylenol and vitamins, and it is a good experience for me. I am developing better communication with the Mexican doctors. I consult them on X-rays or anything I need, and I can understand when they sign to me that it is not broken and I just need to splint and do medication or when it is more serious. They have a sign for not serious with the illness cases also and then I know to just get Motrin and move them along. Sometimes if the clinic is slow, I’ll put a little extra care into cleaning up some minor cuts and putting Bacitracin and Band-Aids on people. Even if it is something minor they can do themselves, I think sometimes people just want some attention and someone to show they care.

Taken For Everything

This morning I had another patient, Angilee, who nearly died when her house fell down. Her entire side had been slashed from front to back. She was very lucky that she was not a very skinny girl. The slice was about 3 inches deep, 4 inches tall and went nearly all the way around her waist, but it did not reach her organs. She said her house fell on her and she was trying to roll out of it. It had been over a week since the earthquake, and her wound was extremely infected. I wondered why she hadn’t come earlier. Her mother explained that she took her daughter to a doctor out in town. She gave this doctor $3000, her entire life savings, in hope he could heal her daughter. The doctor had not cleaned the wound properly or given her any antibiotics. He just stitched it and it got very infected. This mother was sad indeed. Her husband and sons had all died in the house, and her daughter barely escaped only to suffer this injury. She then lost her life savings with no cure. All she wanted was for her daughter to be healed. The wound was deep, but through a painful cleaning process over several days, antibiotics, and prayer, Angilee started to recover. We kept her overnight in our clinic. Her mother was so happy the next day because it was the first time her daughter had slept all through the night. Eventually Angilee was healed and went home with her mother. We documented Angilee’s injuries and case and took a few photos to give to her mother. We pointed her in the direction of legal advice so maybe she can sue the original doctor and get some money back.

Sometimes the Answer is Right Next to You

Recently we are seeing more and more crush injuries. This morning a woman came into our clinic whose face had been smashed. I was helping clean and debride her wounds, but I was thinking she would really need plastic surgery someday. Through the translator, she was asking me what the next step was, and I knew we didn’t offer plastic surgery. I knew I was going to have to tell her that she would need to be referred to a plastic surgeon out in town. Meanwhile, I was wondering what the chances were that Haiti really had any good plastic surgeons and whether she could afford it. We focus on life/death issues at the clinic, and she wasn’t really in that situation. However, appearances mean a lot, and a significant change to facial features can have a lasting impact on a person. Then something happened that only happens in the movies. I thought, I wonder why Mexico brought such a huge team. I walked over to one of the Mexican doctors. Habla Englais? Are you a plastic surgeon? “Why, yes, I am.” He replied. What a miracle!, I thought. I walked him over to the girl, and he did some measurements and said he would set her up for surgery the next day. I was so relieved that this girl has the possibility of rebuilding her face and her self esteem.

Working in a Tri-Lingual Clinic-23 January 2010

Today the Mexicans came and brought whole surgical teams. We were speaking French, Spanish and English. It was very confusing and at times overcrowded, but it was good to see so many people from different languages and cultures working together with a common goal of helping the Haitians. Additionally, the Mexicans brought 8,000 boxes of food which we loaded into trucks and distributed until we were mobbed and then brought it all back. Yesterday, we saw 160 cases between 8am-5pm. Today we had seen 140 cases by 2 pm, so our clinic is becoming more efficient. The cases today were also less severe, and in the afternoon, everything really slowed down. It was even hard to get helicopters for non-critical patients. Additionally, the media was present in full force. It was another long day, but it was still very rewarding. It is interesting to watch an operation like this, that is built from the ground up. The first day was mass chaos just trying to treat the flood of patients with limited supplies. Now we have tents set up for patients to wait in, a check-in table, 2 operating rooms, a labor and delivery room and even an area that is just for changing out bandages. It is neat to see the evolution of field medicine and what many people can do with limited time and supplies.

Rewarding Work- 21 January 2010

Today was another busy day at the clinic. I am however amazed at how much more organized things are becoming--from triage, to tents for people to wait in, to all the labeled supplies, it is getting much better. Today I learned how to do a fiberglass cast, how to clean a burn and how to treat a gunshot wound. A bullet can actually stay in a person his or her whole life, unlike the movies would lead you to believe. I am so thankful for this training opportunity. Today I also learned more about giving injections and treating children. It is sad to see so many children going through so much trauma at such a young age. I am glad I can help out though. I really enjoy this work. I can’t wait to learn more at PA/medical school. I really like a having a day job again where I sleep at night. I am so glad my chain of command is supporting me in this operation.